The American Poetry Review recently announced the winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize, Itiola Jones for her manuscript Bloodmercy. Her book was chosen amongst many by esteemed poet Nicole Sealey.
Itiola Jones is an American / Nigerian poet and editor. She is a senior editor for Poetry Northwest where she runs her column, The Legacy Suite, a three-part interview documenting the journey of writers publishing their debut poetry collections. She is a Graduate Fellow with The Watering Hole and holds fellowships from Hedgebrook Callaloo, BOAAT Writer’s Retreat, Brooklyn Poets, and Bread Loaf where she was the 2023 Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Scholar in poetry.
Bloodmercy will be distributed by Copper Canyon Press through Consortium. Itiola will receive a standard book publishing contract, with royalties paid in addition to the $3,000 prize.
Publication is set for September, 2025.
Congratulations Itiola on this amazing achievement!
Read more on Itiola here.
Bongiwe T. Maphosa
Bongiwe Maphosa is a writer whose fiction and poetry offers fresh, imaginative perspectives on the human condition. Her work has been published in prominent literary spaces, including Isele Magazine, Akowdee Magazine, the AVBOB Poetry Anthology, Journal of African Youth in Literature (JAY Lit), and more. She was also nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology. Bongiwe is one of six writers selected for the inaugural Caine Prize Online Editing program and serves as a content writer, peer reviewer, and tier three awards judge for JAYLit. Bridging inner reflection with speculative worlds, she continues to carve out a distinctive voice within contemporary African literature for a growing global audience.
